The town I was born in is very small. There was a doll store
that when I was little, I stopped every day admiring them on the Crystal
sideboard. They were dolls of a large size, with their long hair,
which I could not have because their cost was high. They were semi-
real right to the owner of that store A strange situation happened to him.
In order to get those dolls, it was necessary for Don Jacinto to go
to the city, which was about five hours by truck. In order to
reach or leave the village, it was necessary to take the only road that
there was the cursed road, as many said to him, because for the
same reason that the fog filled the road and on the other side there was
a deep ravine. There were often accidents in which many people had died and
were to be expected, because if a bus or a car fell into the
ravine, it was very difficult to rescue people, because in the lower part
a river ran that, in the rainy season, became dangerous, so sometimes
you could see the remains of the cars that remained below. On one occasion
there was a truck that came to the village for the patron saintly feasts of
the Virgin of the Rosary. They had been organized among several surrounding villages to
go to the holidays. No one knew what happened, but the bus broke
down with all the passengers inside say those who lived in the houses closest to
the road that the cries of despair were heard when the truck fell into the
void as well as the crying of the children. It was a terrible tragedy
that time could not cure. From that time on, ghostly apparitions began to
become more and more frequent because they said that souls appeared on the road looking
for the way to achieve their peace, or even said that those spirits had
behaviors, as if they still thought they were alive. Those pitiful souls caused
other drivers to get so scared that they would get off the road and hit
the hill and then fall into the deep ravine. That was why he had
received that name. Many people were afraid to leave town, because they did
not know if they would return alive. Only Don Jacinto did so very often.
That' s why he had so many customers in his shop, because
he not only sold dolls, but clothes for lady and gentleman shoes domestic goods.
It was so popular that people from other villages came to buy what it
sold, as it was easier to do so without risking. So much so,
everyone in the village was surprised that Don Jacinto had not had an accident,
especially because of the frequency with which he was traveling. At least twice
a month, while other people, like my family, had never left town.
We didn' t have to go to other towns or the city.
That' s why we' d rather not risk it. On one occasion
of the many times Don Jacinto left town, it took longer than expected to
return. He was leaving in a big van he had and returning with the
cabin full of merchandise. I remember very well that I was starting to get
dark when I heard a lot of screams in the village, as the town
had settled on the hill from the part where I was, I had a
vision for the whole village. I saw when several people gathered around the temple.
Obviously I couldn' t tell what they were talking about. I just
noticed an air of concern in the environment. I stopped looking for the medicinal
plants to go to the house. My mom and dad were already aware of
what happened. Don Jacinto had an accident. It was not yet known how
serious it was, but the worst was feared, as it was well known
that whoever suffered an accident on that road lost his life. After a few
minutes, my mom found out that Don Jacinto had died on the Cursed Road.
They found him on the side of his truck. Apparently, he crashed
into the hill and his chest was pressed against the steering wheel, resulting in
an instant death. But something inexplicable happened. They said that Don Jacinto,
after considering him dead from one moment to the next, began to cough loudly.
Everyone here got scared. One person approached the lord put his ear into
his heart. She suddenly realized she was beating again. He was alive the
next day. There was no talk of anything other than Don Jacinto. It
was the first time someone had an accident on the cursed road and would come
out alive to tell it, but I had a strange feeling about Don Jacinto.
My parents also heard them talking that it had been a rather strange event.
For a week, Don Jacinto didn' t go to work at his
doll shop. Every time I came from school. I was passing by the
store because I wanted to see him, until one Monday I saw him behind
the counter. I kept an eye out through the Crystal sideboard. I pretended
to see the dolls. The more I saw was that man who had a
different look. Don Jacinto looked at me as he smiled in a disturbing way
quickly. I walked away from the place. I' d been able to
see it and I didn' t like it. What I perceived in him
was as if he were another man, and Don Jacinto the real one was
somewhere else I wasn' t the only one who noticed the changes in the
doll seller in the village started to spread the rumor that Don Jacinto had strange
behaviors because he left his house in the morning and walked along the side of
the road to return almost at dawn. It became a daily practice for him.
Once I came from a schoolmate' s house, we were doing a
project that took us longer than we thought, so it was night when I
left her house it was late, but in the village you could travel at
any time without anything bad happening. It was a very quiet and safe place.
In the distance, I saw Don Jacinto, walking towards the outskirts.
I looked everywhere. The streets were empty without much thought. I left following
him without him noticing. I had the doubt that I went to the road
every night. I stayed a certain distance from him so he wouldn' t
realize I was following him. As Don Jacinn approached the place where the accidents
happened, I began to hear sounds of people treading the gravel of the place.
I turned my head without being able to see anyone. At the same
time murmurs began to be heard as if there were people present in the place
there was no one. I began to feel fear fear of being discovered not
only by Don Jacinto, but by the spirits in that place. I tried
to stay still behind the bush I was in. I lost sight of Don
Jacinto, but I no longer wanted to move from where I was. I
began to hear cries and cries, as if the spirits of dead people had
woken up. It was gloomy to realize that those spirits were detained in that
place and that their souls suffered for the abrupt manner in which they died.
Suddenly everything was completely silent. It was a silence that didn' t give
me any peace of mind. On the contrary, it was disturbing and more,
when I saw Don Jacinto coming back, Don Jacinto left without seeing me
going back to town. I stayed for a few more minutes to get out
of that creepy place. When I thought Don Jacinto was far away, I
walked quickly, looking all the time back, as I had the feeling that
those spirits could realize my presence. I didn' t see Don Jacinto anymore.
I thought he went home. Passing through the main street, I saw
that in his tent there was a light moving from one place to the other.
I was afraid, but I couldn' t resist seeing who it was.
It was he who brought a lamp by hand and walked quickly in his
tent from the place where I was. I could only see the dolls and
the light that moved. I didn' t really know what I was doing,
but I decided to leave the place. It was quite late, but
before I left I saw something frightening. One of the dolls opened and closed
her eyes. I got so scared, I went back. At the same
time I stumbled upon something and fell, causing it to make noise without waiting
any longer. I ran out of the place because I didn' t want
Don Jacinto to realize it was me and then have some sort of reprisal.
I got suffocated to my house. I had run several streets without stopping.
When I arrived, my parents were already worried. I got in turning out.
I locked the door in one blow. My scared parents asked me what
was happening to me. I told you about Don Jacinto. That gentleman has
strange customs. He wasn' t the same man he knew. My mom
came up with me, asked me to calm down, gave me a tea
to relax and tell her everything I had seen at the end of my story.
She also told my father and I that this person was no longer Don
Jacinto. After the accident and the apparent death he had, someone else returned
to his body. In the village, everyone began to realize the changes that
arose in Don Jacinto, especially at night every day he went out for a
walk on every occasion his night walk was on the banks of the Cursed Road.
Very soon the rumors about what Don Jacinto was doing came to the ears
of all the villagers saying that he had made a pact with the Devil for
that he had forgiven his life, as he was the only one who had
survived an accident. There, since that night I followed Don Jacinto, I
never went back to his doll shop, but I couldn' t keep up
with the doubt of what I saw really intrigued by what was going on in
that place. One night I went back to the store, asked one of
my brothers to come with me because I was afraid to do it alone.
He went with me out of curiosity, as in explaining what happened, he
immediately told me he was lying. It was almost ten o' clock at
night when we arrived at Don Jacinto' s shop. To our luck,
he was inside. We stayed behind a tree in front of his shop.
From that place it was possible to see into the tent. It wasn'
t long before we saw that the man was taking one of the dolls out
of the stand, putting it on the counter and sitting in front of it.
From the place where we met, it was almost impossible to see what
was going on inside we crossed the main street cautiously and stayed behind the wall
of the store. From there we could see better. Apparently, Don Jacinto
was talking to his wrist. He moved his hands as if he were talking
to a person, while the wrist moved his head as if he were nodding.
I didn' t want to stay any longer. I told my brother
to leave the place, but he wanted to stay longer because he didn'
t understand what was going on with that gentleman. But I didn' t
want the Jalé from the shirt so we could run away from that place.
My brother didn' t resist anymore. We crossed the street to return to
our house. When we were on our way back, we saw a man
standing on the corner of a street. I told my brother it was best
to surround. I didn' t trust the man on the corner. From
there I couldn' t tell who I was. We' d rather go
on another course. That meant we' d walk more, but I didn
' t care. As he turned the corner of the next street, there
he was, was Don Jacinto standing. Seeing us with the other eyes wide
open, the man gave a sinister smile and went straight to my brother.
He grabbed him by the hand and took him away. I held my brother
tight to keep that man from taking him, but it was impossible. The
lord had an enormous force against which I could not fight. I ran to
my house to tell my parents what was going on. Suffocated almost airless.
I stopped for a moment, begged him to go for my brother. My
dad spoke to his brother and asked him to accompany him. Other neighbors noticed
and went with him. They went to Don Jacinto' s house. I
wanted to go with them, but my mom wouldn' t let me.
He told me it was to put me in danger crying. I begged him
to go with me. My mom didn' t think about it anymore She
left my brothers in charge with the neighbor and we went after them. Several
men were knocking on the door of Don jans Cinto' s house came out
Doña Margarita, his wife. She told them she wasn' t there.
The safest thing was that he was on the Cursed Road. It was the
place I went every night. Not for a minute. The men headed that
way, but Doña Margarita told them to take that man down because he was
not her real husband. He had become an evil entity. She lifted her
skirt to show one of her legs. She had a long wound as if
she had been hurt with a knife. The men came out more enraged from
the village and headed towards the road in the distance I came to distinguish my
brother' s crying and screaming. It didn' t take us long to
be close to Don Jacinto or whoever he was, but before we got where
they were, we started to hear voices as if many people were gathered in
the same place, but we didn' t see anyone, as well as
the footsteps of many people. I saw clearly how the gravel moved on the
floor as if people were walking on the small stones. Lament began to be
heard. They were disturbing laments that were afraid to keep walking. Even several
men stopped. They told my dad that it was best to leave that cursed
place, because they too put his life at risk. My father told them
that if they didn' t want to go with him, he wouldn'
t force them, but he was going to go after his son. I
wouldn' t give that man a chance to hurt him. The villagers didn
' t come back. They followed my dad to the front. Their fear
was evident because they looked everywhere as if waiting for someone to come out suddenly
and hurt them. There was a time when Don Jacinto stopped, my brother
was scared to death. He said a few words that my mom didn'
t understand. He didn' t want to communicate with us either. Without
being able to understand him, he approached the side of the road, holding
my brother tightly. We' re all frozen. We knew what it meant
if he threw himself at my brother, we would never see him again in
an act of despair. My dad approached the two of us. That'
s when I heard my mom' s scream asking my dad to stop because
he was going to jump over the cliff. It was horrible to see Don
Jacinto' s face. His gaze was dark and his smile sinister. Besides,
as he dressed completely in black, he looked like a demon. When
my dad was very close to him, he took my brother by the arm
and Don Jacinto fell into the void. There was one detail I didn'
t want to overlook. The moment the man fell into the void, a
horrible roar was heard. No one knew it was or where it came from.
Also the dogs of the village began to hunt in a sad way,
as if they had the ability to realize what was happening. That' s
where all the howls came. Those of us who were present were shocked by
what happened. We didn' t give credit to what was going on in
that place. The whole town came together to ask the authorities to close the
road. Being very dangerous, they were told how many people had died there.
He was ordered to make another alternate route that was less dangerous and over
time, the cursed road was forgotten. Only the people who realized what happened
didn' t forget it. All the people have knowledge of what happened and
are afraid of and respect for that place. Doña Margarita, when she was
calmer, told my parents all the barbarities Don Jacinto did to her. She
from the beginning realized that this man was no longer her husband, because he
became a despicable being. He even thought that what lived in his being was
the same demon. Every year, during the patron saintly feasts of the Virgin
of Sorrows, a pilgrimage is made to the cursed road to keep the spirits
who were trapped calm. My brother at first after what happened, he was
sick with a fever. It was necessary for my parents to take him to
the doctor. He gave her a nerve treatment, but it wasn' t
enough. He had to be taken to a psychiatrist, because it was an
event that marked him. Every year, when it is the day Don Jacinto
died for the second time, dogs howl painfully as if their spirit was wandering
nearby. Story written and adapted by Adriana Cuevas uno